Dual Core vs Dual Processor

[kissvid]

Well...2 computers it is. BUt I will definatley spend the big bucks on the editing one. Here's a list of components i want to use to build it...All comments welcome.

Mother Board Asus - P5W DH Deluxe $270.00
Dual Core Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6700 $500.00
Memory (2GB) Kingston 1GB 240pin DDR2 PC2 6400 (x2) KHX6400D2/1G $355.00
System Drive WD2500KS 250GB SATAII $80.00
Video Storage Hitachi SATAII 250GB x2 $160.00
Case Thermaltake Eureka VC8000BWA $160.00
Power Supply Thermaltake 500W $125.00
Graphics Card ATI Radeon X1900XX 512MB $345.00
DVD Burner Pioneer DVR-710 $55.00
OS Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 OEM $155.00

Total $2,205

This list was taken off of this link. These guys did a nice test and job. Ilove what they did.
http://www.videoguys.com/DIY5.html

Marc

[Capmaster]

Good MB, CPU and burner choices. However, I would go with Corsair memory, Seagate hard drive, and Antec case/PS, but that's a matter of personal preference

[edDV]

Super[/url] Warrior]Yeesh i don't get this "Dual-core" and "dual-cpu" thing either.

Whatever happened to just having *1* Solid working CPU in a system, like a Pentium 4 or Celeron-M. Thats all ya need darnit.

You kids and your newfangled tech...*shakes cane*

That trend ended when heat generated resembled the surface of the sun and power consumption threatened to pass the fridge. Better to use that excess power to cool beer.

[ozymango]

Specs look sweet, though I agree with Capmaster on the Seagate drives (nothing wrong with WD per se but of all the drives I've ever dealt with, and I deal with a heck of a lot because I do tech support at a university, the Seagates have always lasted longest and had the best warranty).

And as EdDV noted, it's always a good idea to leave some extra money for beer!

[Scorpion King]

I change my vote.

The idea with 2 computers is to keep you from walking away when it is so busy that every time you click the mouse it slows down the process. That is when you switch to the other machine and keep working. This switching process can be as easy as sliding a roller chair from one desk position to another, or with a KVM switch.

I have the same ability with my desktop and my laptop, but I have never used it. I will simply walk away and let my desktop work. I don't need that much capacity myself since I only do one thing at a time and will gladly wait for the results.

What I would be afraid of is that you will build such a nice system that you won't want to use your #2 system so you won't get the advantage of true multitasking. And if you don't build the ultimate video machine you may not be so happy with one of less ability, so I change my vote. I vote build the ultimate machine you can afford but keep your old computer for those times it may becomes needed. Or use it to surf the internet or something.

I guess the perfect idea would be to build 2 ultimates and multi task them.

Good luck.

[budz]

I'd use a smaller hard drive like a 80-120gb hard drive for the operating system, Cooler Master computer case or a Antec case & Antec Smart 500 watt power supply.

I use a KVM switch for 3 computers which is great. I can encode with 2 computers and surf the net on another.

[Capmaster]

What I would be afraid of is that you will build such a nice system that you won't want to use your #2 system so you won't get the advantage of true multitasking.

So true. Walk into the garage - are you going to get into the Corvette ...or the Daihatsu?

That trend ended when heat generated resembled the surface of the sun and power consumption threatened to pass the fridge. Better to use that excess power to cool beer.

[spanky123]

KVM switch - I gotta get me one of those (and a second PC ofcourse)

Is CCE (let's say SP2 - latest) dual-core enabled ?
I mean will you get the most out of the dual-cores or would it be not much faster than a decent P4 ?

PS. Good Luck kissvid. I reckon you don't take no shortcuts/cheap options now that you'll regret later on. As you said, 'Time IS Money', especially in a business like yours. It sounds like you know what you're doing

[jagabo]

Is CCE (let's say SP2 - latest) dual-core enabled ?

Yes. It's ~60 percent faster with two cores vs one. TMPGEnc is twice as fast with two cores (but it's still far slower than CCE).

[rallynavvie]

Since when is TMPGEnc twice as fast with two cores?

[jagabo]

Since I started using Core 2 Duo and Athlon 64 X2 processors.

[vico1]

Yup...I'd go with the Corsair mem and Seagate drives too.

BTW,
I just ordered that TT Eureka from the Egg, (black) got the $40 off rebate, $109.99 after.
(couldn't pass it up)
The removable mobo tray is what made my mind up...I think that case is about the same as the TT Shark.

[Capmaster]

Since when is TMPGEnc twice as fast with two cores?

It's (almost) four times as fast with four cores, too



TMPGEnc multithreads nicely 8)

[jagabo]

Since when is TMPGEnc twice as fast with two cores?

It's (almost) four times as fast with four cores, too :wink:

Nice! That's the first time I've seen TMPGEnc with four cores.

[kissvid]

Thank you all so much for the comments. I will definatley get the seagate drives. I've heard a lot of great things as well about them and that seems to be the majority feel here on the boards as well. I will change the ram as well. I was unfamilar with ram in general and when more than 1 person says..get this ram I don't disagree with the masses. That's why we have great places like videohelp. It's places such as here that help us make these decisions. As for the 2 computer systems. This one will be for the edidting but the other will be for my dvd covers etc... I really don't mind about the down time when it's converting to mpg2. In the summer..I do dance recitals. This year I have 11 to do. All 3 camera shoots. By the time I finsh editing a 3 camera shoot on a recital that has approx 40 dance numbers and add the titles and the ending credits with 200 names on them, I look foward to the downtime for my brain...LOL. That's when I rest and let the computer take over. As for the case, is it that big of a deal. I mean I heard it's big. It's a real nice size and to me that means more room inside to breathe and have ventilation. Anymore thoughts. I'll be getting the funds for all this in about 3 weeks, so there's still time to change my mind. LOL. Thank you again to all that have posted and all future posters.

Marc Sico

[Capmaster]

Good luck, Marc!

[vico1]

Marc, in getting opinions about picking out a case...it is more likely you will get
as many different opinions as people posting.
One case fits all, ain't in the books.

What I did was, picked one I thought suited My needs, looked good, read a few reviews...
Closed my eyes and...Grabbed it and Growled!...

[rallynavvie]

Try running TMPGEnc with SMP disabled, you'll see you're not quite getting 200% (or 400%) over a single core processor. Fortunately the shared cache on dual- and quad-core chips doesn't interfere with encoding performance as it isn't utilized hardly at all.

[Capmaster]

Marc, in getting opinions about picking out a case...it is more likely you will get
as many different opinions as people posting.
One case fits all, ain't in the books.

What I did was, picked one I thought suited My needs, looked good, read a few reviews...
Closed my eyes and...Grabbed it and Growled!...

You too? I get some funny looks from other shoppers when I do that

[vico1]

You too? I get some funny looks from other shoppers when I do that

--------------->

[kissvid]

Hello All,

To all of you that have assisted in this thread I thank you. I have decied to go with the following computer.

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
Core 2 Duo E6700 Monster Desktop!
Dual Core Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB of cache
(2x)500GB SATA II 7200RPM hard drives set up in raid 0(stripe) for a total of 1 TERABYTE of blazing fast storage space
4GB of DDR2 PC6400 RAM
Intel D975XBX2KR motherboard
18x DVD±RW dual layer dvd/cd burner
DVD-ROM/CD burner combo drive, flash card reader
Integrated 7.1 channel high definition audio
gigabit LAN
GeForce GT7950GT 512MB PCI Express video card
500 Watt power supply

To me, it was the best for the money. It's arriving today and can't wait. Thank you again for all of your help. Will keep you up to date.

Marc

[rallynavvie]

(2x)500GB SATA II 7200RPM hard drives set up in raid 0(stripe) for a total of 1 TERABYTE of blazing fast storage space

That's a lot of disk space to be risking, especially if you're serious about doing this as a business. If you must have the speed that striping provides and aren't willing to risk corrupting a friggin TB of data then you need to at least have that array nested, meaning you need that 1TB striped array mirrored by an identical 1TB striped array. Yes, that's 4 total 500GB SATA drives. The only reason you'd need the I/O bandwidth from RAID 0 is if you're working with HDV and even then you can probably get away with typical SATA2 overhead. Besides reading and writing your video encodes to the same volume, be it striped or not, is a big no-no. Do yourself a HUGE favor and run those drives independently.

You can probably also skimp on the video card a little since video is 2D and those big expensive video cards are for accelerating 3D like in games and such. The only time they may come in handy is when mastering a 3D effect in Premiere or AE but once it's encoded it's once again a 2D video. A decent mid-range card is all you need. But it sounds like you already bought it so at least you'll be able to play games on it pretty well.

Make sure you have a GOOD power supply in there. Just plain 500W PSU doesn't mean much. Best is PC Power & Cooling, then you've got the decent supplies like Antec, Fortron, Sparkle, and some of the newer Thermaltakes. Your power supply, in my opinion and probably many others', is the most important part of your PC. If it takes a dump it can take everything in your PC with it, and they don't usually cover anything beyond the faulty power supply. Also if it isn't providing enough sustained power to each rail (remember that most ratings are for peak power, not always sustained) then you can cause just as much damage by "browning-out" components. Sucks really bad when you're 28 hours into a 30 hour encode and your PC restarts because the ATX 12v rail flaked out on you.

Another very important thing to have with a business workstation like that is a UPS. Get a 1500VA UPS with some sort of voltage regulation. Again, it sucks to have a power outage or brownout you can't control muck up your work before you have a chance to save it. Mine has saved my ass at least a dozen times and as such has certainly paid the $500 price tag it had when new.

Another important piece of peripheral hardware if you're serious into DV editing is a VTR. A good VTR is the best way to playback MiniDV and DVCAM tapes from DV cameras for editing software. Using the camcorder itself is just too hard on the transport over time, even with professional cameras. That and a VTR has a much more precise playback making those batch captures smooth as silk. They're pricey though, I got mine used from a local cable station when they went under and it was still $3000. Quite a price tag for a fancy digital VCR

Everything else on there looks pretty nice though. I haven't heard about Adobe compatability with Vista though. I know a lot of my old competitors as well as contemporaries are holding off on Vista until it's proven to work with all their systems and software. You'll have to let us know how it goes.

[edDV]

That machine is set up to extreme gamer spec not video work. RAID zero on the OS drive scares me. In the past, gamers dismiss this risk by saying they want the fastest boot and only games are done on that machine. If the drives fail they just reload the backup. Usually they are working with a couple of small Raptors not TB size.

If that became my machine, I'd buy a third drive for the OS partition. Then I'd probably break the RAID into two indeppendent data drives.

[Robert Simandl]

Is CCE (let's say SP2 - latest) dual-core enabled ?

Yes. It's ~60 percent faster with two cores vs one. TMPGEnc is twice as fast with two cores (but it's still far slower than CCE).

TMPGEnc Plus on two cores (AMD FX-60) is still slower than the HC encoder on one core... since far as I know, HC can't make use of two cores... at least I don't see any setting for that.

[jagabo]

TMPGEnc Plus on two cores (AMD FX-60) is still slower than the HC encoder on one core...

Yes, TMPGEnc is the slowest MPEG2 encoder on earth.

[dwill123]

You may know this already but Intel is planning price cuts in April. It might be worth the wait.

[edDV]

You may know this already but Intel is planning price cuts in April. It might be worth the wait.

Yes, Core2 Duo prices will drop when the Core2 Quad is shipping.

[spanky123]

Is CCE SP2 faster with 4 cores?

[jagabo]

Is CCE SP2 faster with 4 cores?

If I remember correctly, someone once posted benchmark numbers here indicating that it was significantly faster with 4 cores (compared to 2 cores). I can't find the post though.

Core 2 Quad Q6600 is scheduled to drop to US$266 on July 22. Very tempting.

[rallynavvie]

Xeon Quad-core x2 for me

I think CCE is one of those that will only see 2 logical processors. IIRC it's the more recent MainConcept encoder (the one being used for a lot of HD work these days) that supports as many processors as you can throw at it.